| Abstract: | The typical means of forming indirect objects in Chadic is to suffix pronouns directly to the verb and to express noun indirect objects by means of a prepositional phrase. The noun indirect object is typically shifted to the right of the direct object, commonly leaving a pronominal trace in its original position. Such a system was probably characteristic of Proto-Chadic. At an earlier period, Hausa probably manifested such a system, with bare pronouns occurring to the left of the direct object and noun indirect objects, indicated by gà + N, occurring to the right of the direct object. The innovations that led to the strikingly different indirect object system that one finds in present-day Hausa were: (a) the change in meaning and function of the minì, makà... pronominal paradigm from absolute possessive to dative; (b) the change in meaning and function of the pre-noun marker mà from possessive to dative; and (c) the weakening of gà to wà with the concomitant relaxation of the noun indirect object extraposition rule. Notes, ref. |
AfricaBib 
Periodical article
Leiden University catalogue
WorldCat